


an unlikely duo

by miracleboysatori



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: AU: Yachi is a STZ Student, Cute Stickers, Gen, Stationary, literally just two awkward high schoolers supporting each other through unrequited crushes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-19
Updated: 2018-10-19
Packaged: 2019-08-04 12:54:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16347116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miracleboysatori/pseuds/miracleboysatori
Summary: ‘An unlikely duo’; that was what most people called them.And sure, there was some truth to that, given the obvious physical differences immediately visible to anyone who would watch them walk through the hallways together.But a guy like Tendou never really liked to base his opinions of people off of appearance alone, and that was probably why he’d gotten so close to the first year. That and a mutual love of stationary and cute stickers.





	an unlikely duo

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Tendou Rarepair Week day 3, the prompt was AU so I uhhh went with a 'Yachi is a student at Shiratorizawa' AU, haha.
> 
> This is definitely my strangest and rarest Tendou rarepair, no contest LOL. There is zero canon interaction and absolutely nothing to base my love for this on, besides a personal self-indulgent love for height difference and a friend of mine, [Jei](https://twitter.com/jaela), who has really helped me fall even more in love with Yachi. We've been friends for a while now and I cannot even begin to tell you how much I appreciate and love Jei, she's a literal ray of sunshine and any time I see Yachi I immediately think of her. We used to be in a roleplay group where she played Yachi and I played Tendou, and we teased the idea of them hanging out. Ever since then I've been hooked on this rarepair. ([I've also drawn TenYachi before, but it's been a while.](http://kat-doodles.tumblr.com/post/168479008671/kat-doodles-have-i-told-u-all-about-my-ultimate))
> 
> This was a bit rushed, and not as thorough as I had hoped, mostly because I don't know how to write Yachi ;; But I do think their friendship would be so incredibly pure and sweet. I like to imagine them bonding over cute things and the struggles of anxiety, being there for each other when they feel insecure or overwhelmed. Yachi slowly learning that Tendou isn't really that scary of a guy, he's just a big goofball... I just... super love that dynamic, even if it's not a canon thing. And I'd like to try to write them more in the future, if I can get a better grasp on Yachi's character, haha. Unfortunately anyone outside of STZ is a struggle for me to write.
> 
> This is un-beta'd, I didn't even do a full read-through yet. I wanted to get this posted ASAP. I tend to miss things, but I will read this over in a few days and try to locate any mistakes I missed! That being said, I apologize in advance for any mistakes!! 
> 
> I hope you enjoy! ♡

‘An unlikely duo’; that was what most people called them.

And sure, there was some truth to that, given the obvious physical differences immediately visible to anyone who would watch them walk through the hallways together. Tendou Satori, standing at nearly 6’2”, towered _way_ above Yachi Hitoka, who stood at only just below 4’11”. Even beyond that, Tendou’s wild appearance and never completely worn correctly school uniform were stark contrasts from Yachi’s always perfectly-put-together self.

But a guy like Tendou never really liked to base his opinions of people off of appearance alone, and that was probably why he’d gotten so close to the first year who, at first glance, appeared to be completely different from him in every single way possible. If he’d just minded his own business on the fateful day they had met, immediately assumed she’d turn him away and give him a dirty look, he wouldn’t be on his way to one of the student lounges to meet up with her.

A lot of people were stumped by their friendship, many of Tendou’s teammates included. Some even thought he might have ulterior motives, possibly an agenda to get with the first year on a romantic basis, or maybe he’s just using her for help on his homework. But neither of those things are true; Tendou just genuinely enjoys her company, for many reasons. 

Besides, Hitoka-chan is _super_ into girls, even if she doesn’t come out and say it. The conversations they’ve had about cute girls are more than enough context for Tendou to know that.

Tendou arrives in one of the student lounges on campus, eyes darting around the room until he spots Yachi sitting in one of the corners. He waves at her, calling out, “Hiya, Hitoka-chan!” as he rushes to the back of the room, unfazed by the other students in the room staring at him.

Once he’s in earshot, Yachi returns the greeting, through much quieter and only loud enough for him to hear. 

“How was practice?” she asks, twirling a mint green mechanical pencil between her fingers.

“Good! Exhausting!” Tendou plops his bag down on the floor, sliding into the chair across from Yachi, “My legs are on fire but a funny thing happened! Kenjirou accidently put his shirt on inside out and when Wakatoshi-kun told him, he got beet red and nearly tripped like three times after that, just standing in place, not even walking,” he laughs, loudly, but covers his mouth with his sleeve when he remembers that, oh yeah, this is supposed to be a fairly quiet area.

“Oh! Sounds like an eventful evening.”

“Sure was,” Tendou nods, then looks down at the tabletop, grinning from ear to ear, “Ah! You brought them!”

“Y-yes,” Yachi puts her pencil down, slides her homework off to the side and follows Tendou’s eyes. A stack of stickers and stationary paper, all in soft pastel shades, sits in front of them, “I wasn’t sure how much to bring… I hope this is enough.”

“Yeah!” Tendou excitedly turns and starts to dig in his bag, pulling out a much messier stack of stickers and paper as well, “I brought mine too! So we can trade!”

Truthfully, Tendou’s sticker collection isn’t nearly as polished and aesthetically cohesive as Yachi’s, but this is what the pair had truly bonded over several months ago: a mutual love of cute stationary.

It wasn’t one of Tendou’s most obvious interests, mostly because he rarely got the chance to write letters and cover them in cute stickers. Occasionally he would write notes for some of his teammates, sticking them on their dorm room doors with random messages of support, sometimes little jabs or jokes that were meant to get under their skin just a little bit. It was all in good fun, but he’d never really had a friend who shared the interest with him.

Until he’d randomly met Yachi one day and noticed a sheet of super cute cat stickers peeking out from one of her notebooks.

“Oh!” Yachi’s eyes go wide and she nods, “Okay! What do you have?”

Tendou lays the sticker sheets on the table, looking over all of them and naming off the subjects he sees, “I’ve got some cacti… couple cats… oh! Some lizards! Those are kinda old, I’m afraid to use them up…” Most of the sheets relate to some of his favorite anime series, so he somehow doubts that Yachi will want any of those. He’ll have to step up his game as far as stationary and sticker collecting goes.

Yachi points to the sheet with the cacti on it, “I like those. Do you mind trading them?”

“‘Course not!” Tendou eagerly slides the sheet across the table, pleased that he’d had at least one that Yachi had been interested, “Whaddya got for me?”

“Hmm...” Yachi looks through her own neat stack of stickers, setting out the occasional sheet, “Here’s some plants… some bunnies… food… ah, this one has ice cream, I think you’d like that.”

The options are overwhelming. Tendou looks at the pastel sheets and the incredibly cute subjects, eyes narrowing as he tries to decide which one he wants.

“Um,” Yachi gently clears her throat after a beat of silence, “If you want, you can take them all? And just give back what you don’t use.”

“Eh?!” Tendou’s head whips up and his eyes go wide again, “Are you sure?”

Yachi nods, scooting the sheets across the table, “Mhmm!”

“Hitoka-chaaan, you’re too kind,” Tendou grins, takes the bunnies, plants, food, and ice cream stickers in his hands and thinks about what he’ll use them for, “Wakatoshi-kun will like the plants, Kenjirou won’t admit it but he’ll like the bunnies, and the rest of the team sure do love their food.”

Yachi laughs, as softly as she does everything else, “You like writing notes for your teammates,” she observes.

“They don’t really _get_ it but it’s a lot of fun~” he carefully slides the stickers, both his own and the ones Yachi has given him, into his bag, “and speaking of…” he leans across the table, lowering his voice, “did you write that note we talked about last week?”

Yachi avoids his stare, puts her hands in her lap and blushes just a bit, “Um… what note?”

“Hitoka-chan, you can’t fool me~” Tendou teases, smirking, “that note for that one certain second-year that you have a massive crush on.”

Yachi squeaks, face beet red as her hands go up in front of her now, “Shh! I -- no…”

Tendou laughs, sits back a bit and eases back with the teasing, “Just curious. Have you talked to her?”

“No,” Yachi doesn’t appear to be as flustered now, but she’s still blushing and wringing her hands together, “She’s so cool… and pretty…”

“Well, guess what?” Tendou smiles, tilts his head and then points across the table at his friend, “So are you, Hitoka-chan.”

There’s that embarrassed squeak again. It’s pretty cute, Tendou has to admit to himself. Doesn’t matter how many times Tendou makes any sort of compliment towards Yachi or reference towards the girl she’s crushing hardcore on, he hears it every single time and it makes him smile.

“I think you should write her a cute note, put lots of stickers on it, slide it under her dorm room door, and then hope for the best,” Tendou suggests, though he’s certain this has to be at least the third time he’s made this suggestion.

“What about you?” Yachi counters, blush finally starting to fade, “You should do the same, Satori.”

“Huh?” Tendou blinks. Time to play oblivious.

“You heard me,” she says, crossing her arms, “you should write a note for your crush too.”

“Eh? Well, um --” Oh boy. Tendou avoids her stare, trying to laugh off his slight embarrassment, “That’s different, Hitoka-chan.”

“It’s not!” she leans across the table, arms still crossed, “How so?”

“Me and you? Totally different,” Tendou explains, trying to choose his words carefully, “You’re adorable. Literally like… the sun peeking through the clouds on a rainy day. Pure sunshine. A beacon of cuteness. But me?” he gestures towards himself and laughs, “Just… different.”

Yachi studies him for a moment, expression going from stern to slightly concerned, “Satori… you should think more highly of yourself.”

“Oh, I do!” Tendou shrugs, “I’m super cool! Just, uh... well... “

This isn’t a subject Tendou likes to delve into, not even with friends. His own perception of himself is… well, it’s not perfect. And despite genuinely believing that he _is_ pretty cool, he’s also firmly aware that his interests and his appearance are niche, not widely accepted or conventionally attractive. But having to say that out loud isn’t something he enjoys or knows how to articulate without making the mood too negative or unfun.

“I’m serious!” Yachi reaches over and puts her much smaller hand over his on the table, “You _are_ cool! And really kind! You have a good heart! And someone would be lucky to get a confession from you!”

Well, now Tendou is the one blushing.

“So,” Yachi takes a deep breath, lets her expression go more stern again, “I know you have a crush. You should write a note, slide it under his dorm room door, and hope for the best.”

Tendou smiles. Guess he can’t really ignore his own advice, huh?

“How about this,” he offers, “we _both_ write a note, cover it in stickers, and we _both_ slide it under our crush’s door, yeah?”

“Um,” Yachi blushes again, just a little bit, but then she fiercely nods and reaches for her pencil again, “okay!”

And so, the pair begin writing cheesy confession notes for their crushes. They each put of few stickers from the sheets they’d traded each other on to the notes, finally sealing them with larger stickers. They’re both practically radiating nervousness and anxiety as they leave the lounge, but Tendou thinks it’s nice to feel like he’s not alone in it. 

Sure, maybe both of them eventually chicken out and don’t even slip the notes under their crushes’ doors, but in the end, Tendou doesn’t mind too much. It just means they’ll have another excuse to meet up and continue bonding over cute stickers and unrequited crushes.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please feel free to reach out to me on twitter, I'd be honored if you wanted to talk to me! (esp about tendou, or shiratorizawa in general!) ♡
> 
> art twitter: [tendouaf](http://www.twitter.com/tendouaf)  
> twitter: [ushitentxt](http://www.twitter.com/ushitentxt) (I'm mostly active here right now! Please come talk to me~)  
> tumblr: [tendou-satori](http://www.tendou-satori.tumblr.com)  
> art blog: [kat-doodles](http://www.kat-doodles.tumblr.com)


End file.
